Camera for taking photographs of inner wall of cavity of human or animal bodies



June 1953 TATSURO UJI ETAL CAMERA FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF INNER WALL OF CAVITY OF HUMAN OR ANIMAL BODIES Filed June 4, 1951 IN V EN TORS' 7Z4 v-sukq 01/, M07500 Sue/0AM AN%WASAHARU FUK Ml Arron/4E).-

Patented June 16, 1953 CAMERA FOB TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF INNER WALL OF CAVITY OF HUMAN OR ANIMAL BODIES Tatsuro Uji, Ohmiya, Saitama Prefecture, Mutsuo Sugiura, Setagaya, Tokyo, and Masaharu Fukami, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, assignors to Olympus Optical 00., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Application June 4, 1951, Serial No. 229,682- In Japan June 27, 1950 1 Claim.

' This invention relates to a camera adapted to be inserted into the cavity of a human or animal body such, for example, as the cavity of internal organs such as the stomach, intestines, womb etc. to take photographs of the inner wall thereof. The camera embodying this invention is characterised in that a number of photographs of various parts of the inner wall of the cavity of a human or animal body are successively taken from any desired direction without regard to the position of the inner wall to be photographed by remotely controlling an electric lamp at definite intervals.

The drawing illustrates a camera embodying this invention in enlarged scale showing a part in section.

In the drawing, I designates a short metallic tubular bulb which constitutes a camera part. The bulb I is pivotally mounted at H! on a piece II secured in the top end of a flexible tube 2 and normally biased by a spring I2 to a counterclockwise direction. The flexible tube 2 is made, for example, of a rubber covered flexible tube.

The tube 2 extends through a holdingsleeve 5 having a necked portion 3' and is provided at its rear end with an end sleeve 4 secured thereto. The bulb I encloses in its top end a roll film 6 contained in a magazine 6, the free end of which is connected at IE to one end of a guide wire I6 extended through the flexible tube 2 and wound at the other end on a reel I5 rotatably mounted on the end sleeve 4. An electric lamp 5 is fitted in one side wall of the bulb I and an opening 8 facing opposite to passage of the film I is formed on the same side wall as the lamp 5. Located opposite to the opening 8 is a lens 9. Threaded in the end of the end sleeve 4 is a knob I3, the inner end of which being connected to the base of the bulb I by means of a flexible wire I4 extended through the tube 2 so as to oppose the action of spring I2. The knob I3 is so adjusted that the wire I4 normally opposes the action of the spring I2 so as to keep the bulb I in its upright position shown in the drawing. Enclosed in the sleeve 4 is a time switch H which at a certain time interval, such as /2 second to second, closes and opens an energizing circuit of the electric lamp 5. This energizing circuit emanates from an electric source 20 through a switch I9, lead wires I8, one leading through the metallic portion of the tube 2 and the other directly to the electric lamp 5. 2I shows a push button for operating the time switch I1.

The operation of the camera embodying this invention is as follows. The bulb I together with the flexible tube 2 is inserted into a cavity oi a human or animal body until the necked portion 3 of the holding sleeve 3 is in line with the inlet periphery of the body, Next, the switch I9 is closed and the push button ZI of the time switch I! is pressed down. 'Then, the time switch I! is operated to close an energizing circuit of the electric lamp 5 which follows from the electric source 26 through switch I9, time switch I'I, lead wires I8, and one through the metallic portion of the tube 2 and the other through a wire I 8 directly to the electric lamp 5. Thus, the electric lamp 5 is lighted up. At the end of the deflnite time interval set by the time switch H, the circuit is opened to extinguish the electric lamp 5. Hence, one photograph of the inner wall of the cavity opposite to the lens 9 is taken on the film I. Next, the reel I5 is turned in the direction shown by an arrow to bring a fresh section of the film in position opposite to the lens 9. Then, the above operation can be repeated to take another photograph of the inner wall of the cavity. If the knob I3 is turned, it will be threaded in or out with respect to the end sleeve 4 to loosen or tighten the flexible wire I4 whereby to move the bulb I in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction bringing it into a position shown by the chain lines. Hence, photographs of other parts or" the inner wall of the cavity will be taken by repeating the above operation. If the holding sleeve 3 is grasped by one hand and the end sleeve 4 is rotated around its axis by the other hand, the flexible tube 2 with the tubular bulb I will also be rotated around its own axis. Similarly, if holding the sleeve 3 by one hand and the end sleeve 4 is axially moved toward or away from the sleeve 3 as desired by the other hand, then the flexible tube 2 with the tubular bulb I may also be moved axially. Thus, a number of photographs, such as 30, of various parts of inner wall of the cavity of a human or animal body will be taken as desired within about 5 minutes from different angles without regard to the position of the inner wall to be photographed. 22 and 23 designate an inlet and outlet for water or air fed into the cavity to expand the volume thereof whereby to make it easy to photograph the inner wall. 24 shows a scale for indicating the axial position of the tubular bulb I in the cavity. 25 shows a scale for indicating the rotating angle of the tubular bulb I. 25' is its pointer. 26 is a scale for indicating an angular displacement of the tubular bulb I around its axis I0. 21 shows a cover lass.

As above mentioned, in accordance with the camera embodying this invention, the lens is always full open without a shutter and a number of photographs of the inner wall of the cavity of a human or animal body can be taken successively at certain definite time interval by remotely controlling an electric lamp. Also, a number of photographs of angularly displaced various parts of the inner wall of the cavity without regard to their positions in the cavity can successively be taken by three dimensional motion of the tubular bulb due also to remote control of the end sleeve.

We claim:

A camera for taking photographs of cavities of the body, which comprises a flexible tube, a tubular bulb pivotally connected to the top end of said flexible tube and normally held at the axial position by a tension string against the bias of a spring to tilt said bulb in one direction, a sleeve fixed to the lower end of said flexible tube serving as an operating head, an electric light source and a reel of film enclosed in said bulb, a lens secured in position opposite to the path of the film in said bulb, a film take-up means mounted on said sleeve, a tension strip extending through said flexible tube and connected to one end of the film, a time switch secured in said sleeve and connected in the circuit References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,828,141 Back Oct. 20, 1931 2,516,132 Marcouiller July 25, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 20,880 Denmark Dec. 2'7, 1915 657,560 France Jan. 16, 1929 526,644 Germany June 8, 1931 

